Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Oatmeal raisin cookies--butter, eggs, white sugar, AND brown sugar. The bane of my existence. I was unable to resist their presence at the dining halls. They'd be sitting in trays in mass quantities, just begging to be eaten. I'd hide cookies in napkins to take back to the dorm, even after stuffing my face with a couple cookies after each lunch and dinner.

Long story short, 3 years and 25 pounds later combined with my family's subtle hints about my growing waistline were wake up calls that I needed to harness this cookie addiction.

The baking bug bit me last night at 4AM and oatmeal cookies were the only option. I'd deprived myself of these cookies for a long time and being back from Spring Break has meant that the healthy diet and self control has gone straight through the window.

A classic and simple recipe that should be part of every baker's repertoire, yet I still managed to mess up. I halved the recipe, but I'm not sure if that mattered too much because the proportions were still the same. I think the fatal error occurred when my impatience caused me to microwave the butter for too long and I ended up with liquid-y, not "softened" like the recipe called for. Next time I'll be more careful. The resulting cookies were chewy and had good flavor but were dangerously close to crossing into rubbery territory.

Fortunately, being at school means that I have access to a wide consumer base that I can distribute the cookies to even if they weren't my proudest creation. Sure, this may not help my reputation as a baker but you need to understand the mindset of the majority of people my age: Free food? Beggars can't be choosers!